Thursday, June 12, 2025 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Speaker: Marilyn Latta, California State Coastal Conservancy Register HERE for this speaker series. Topic: Marilyn Latta will share information about living shorelines efforts in San Francisco Bay, including design and monitoring data from the San Rafael Living Shorelines Project, a mix of oyster reefs and eelgrass bed plantings in a multi-objective and experimental living shorelines design.  Marilyn will share updates on how this and other pilot projects are providing lessons learned and best practices in support of the Regionally Advancing Living Shorelines in San Francisco Bay Project. Speaker Bio: Marilyn Latta is a Project Manager with the California State Coastal Conservancy, a state agency that works to protect and enhance the 1200-mile California coast. She holds a dual degree in Marine Biology/Zoology from Humboldt State University and has worked for multiple education and policy organizations on projects ranging from community-based restoration to planning and implementing large capital projects.

Thursday, September 11, 2025 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Speakers: Larry Nigro & Molly Donohue Event is free. Register HERE for this speaker series. Topic: In 2024, Larry and Molly planned a transcontinental birding trip from Fairfax to Key West Florida to identify at least 700 species in the American Birding Association (ABA) They added a trip to Alaska, with the chance of identifying a total of 800 species. In their presentation, Larry and Molly will re-live their favorite birding moments of 2024, from the cliffs of the Alaskan Pribilof Islands to the southern tip of the Florida Keys.   Their slideshow will cover their search for birds like the Golden-Winged Warbler, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Black-capped Vireo, Steller's Sea Eagle, Masked Booby, Kirtland's Warbler, Ross's gull, Spectacled Eider, Snowy Owl and so much more. Speaker Bios: Larry Nigro is a retired Marin County school teacher.  His birding started with taking students on bird walks. Now retired he has completed the Master Birding Program at California Academy of Sciences, the California Naturalist Program and numerous volunteer birding surveys including Marin Bird Breeding Atlas II. Molly Donahue is an educator and nature enthusiast from West Marin. She has been exploring Marin hills since she was a child and now loves to adventure and bird with her husband, Larry Nigro.  She is a certified California Naturalist and participated in the Marin County Bird Breeding Atlas.  Sharing, learning, and exploring our natural world is one of her greatest joys.

Thursday, October 9, 2025 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Speakers: Hernan Casanas and Tamara Zalewski Event is free. Register HERE for this speaker series. Topic: For over a century, Aves Argentinas has been at the forefront of bird and nature conservation in Argentina. As the country’s leading ornithological and conservation NGO and the national partner of BirdLife International, its mission is to protect birds and biodiversity through science, education, advocacy, and collaboration. Hernan and Tamara will discuss how by tending to critically endangered bird species and landscapes they have built large-scale conservation programs. Speaker Bios: Hernan Casanas Hernan is the Executive Director of Aves Argentinas, responsible for the organization’s strategies and the building of strategic alliances, which have been instrumental in the creation of national protected areas.  He has a degree in Biological Sciences from the Universidad de Buenos Aires and has written over 100 publications on the environment and ornithology. Tamara Zalewski Tamara grew up in Patagonia, where she learned to love and care for nature from a young age. She graduated from college with a degree in fine arts but went to work to protect nature professionally. She leads partnership development efforts, looking for partners worldwide who are driven to save species and ecosystems.

Topic:
The Motus Wildlife Tracking System ('Motus') is an international collaborative research network that uses automated radio telemetry to study the movements of birds, bats, and insects. Motus, meaning "movement" in Latin, uses coordinated arrays of receiver stations that detect animals carrying miniaturized radio transmitters, enabling researchers to simultaneously track hundreds of individuals at local to hemispheric scales. Developed as a program of Birds Canada, Motus provides key insights into animal movement and behavior that are fundamental to wildlife conservation and habitat management. This presentation will provide an overview of the Motus system and its research applications.
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Thursday, December 11 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Speaker: Dr. Sarah Allen Event is free. Register HERE for this speaker series. Topic: Elephant seals were hunted to extinction at Point Reyes over 150 years ago, but in 1980, the colony recolonized the Point and gradually spread throughout the peninsula. Younger colonies may exhibit novel behaviors such as male altruism and adaptations to changes in climate. Marine protected areas such as national seashores and marine sanctuaries are critical to the recovery and persistence of species and ecosystems. Speaker Bio: Sarah Allen grew up in Marin County where she learned and has a passion for conservation. Sarah received her M.S. and Ph.D. studying marine birds and mammals from UC Berkeley and retired after 26 years as an employee of the National Park Service (NPS), 15 years of which were at Point Reyes National Seashore and then as Science Program Lead for the Pacific Region. She previously worked for 15 years with Point Reyes Bird Observatory. She has authored and co-authored publications, including the UC Press, Marine Mammals of the Pacific Coast: Baja, California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia. Sarah lives with her husband in Inverness, California.